Two-Level Translation Routing
Lexora v0.21.0 is published and publicly available on Chrome Web Store. Public availability was confirmed on October 30, 2026.
- Choose a translation method in the Reading Panel: Machine Translation uses Google Translate, AI Translation uses OpenAI, Gemini, or Claude, and On-device Translation uses Chrome Translator.
- Switch AI providers separately from the translation method. Successful route changes translate the active selection again; leaving AI Translation preserves your preferred AI provider.
- Before switching to an AI provider, Lexora checks for that provider’s key in your chosen local or session storage. If it is missing, guidance names the provider and keeps the current route and result.
- Translation uses only the selected provider and its credential in the chosen storage mode. Errors stay visible without silently switching providers, models, or translation methods.
- The method and provider menus support keyboard navigation and keep the Reading Panel in place. This release adds no models, engines, local AI runtimes, or target languages.
Cloud AI Timeout Reliability
Published publicly on Chrome Web Store on October 20, 2026. Improves Cloud AI timeout reliability.
- Cloud AI requests have more time to complete, with timeouts adapted to selection length.
- Timeout failures are not cached, so a manual retry starts a fresh request after the previous attempt settles.
- Provider selection and privacy safeguards are preserved; no automatic timeout retries or silent provider fallback.
Reading Tools & Multilingual Toolbar
Lexora v0.20.1 is published and publicly available on the Chrome Web Store. Public availability was confirmed on October 18, 2026. This update brings together all improvements since v0.19.3.
- New Word Length Highlighter in Toolbar → Lexora → Reading Tools: highlight words with 1–30 characters on the current webpage, replace or clear highlights, and keep them during normal reading and supported content changes. Matching stays local without sending page text to an AI provider.
- The toolbar follows Settings → Interface language across all 10 existing interface languages, including Reading Tools, YouTube controls, statuses, and errors, while preserving relevant popup state when the language changes.
- Improved YouTube DualSubs compatibility and reliability while preserving video navigation and subtitle behavior.
- Updated OpenAI Cloud AI translation to GPT-6 Luna (gpt-6-luna), replacing GPT-5 mini and removing the automatic GPT-4.1 mini fallback. Model access failures are shown instead of silently switching models.
- Updated Anthropic translation to Claude Haiku 5.5 (claude-haiku-5-5); Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite remains unchanged. Existing provider selections and API keys are preserved, and translation attribution uses the response model when supplied.
- Improved Cloud AI instruction isolation so selected questions and commands are translated as text rather than followed.
Reliability and consistency
Lexora v0.19.3 is published and publicly available on the Chrome Web Store. Public availability was confirmed on October 16, 2026.
- More reliable Notebook saves, duplicate detection across websites, and bookmark synchronization between tabs.
- Fixed incorrect cached translations for long selections that share the same beginning.
- More reliable settings persistence across contexts, with clear errors when a save fails.
- Improved YouTube DualSubs loading and language changes. Temporary rate limits can still require a short wait before retrying.
- Restored reliable Wikipedia references when enabled.
- Improved selection handling in embedded frames after the background worker restarts.
- Completed Notebook labels, filters, notices, and controls across all ten interface languages.
- Removed verified obsolete extension code and unused website content.
Stability and recovery
Lexora v0.19.2 is published and publicly available on the Chrome Web Store. Public availability was confirmed on October 15, 2026.
- Keep Cloud AI provider selection and saved credentials consistent.
- Recover stalled translation loading with bounded requests and retries that preserve the current selection.
- Restore reading panel and selection handling after browser back/forward navigation, including BFCache restores.
- Clear stale YouTube DualSubs text when subtitle timing, video, or language changes invalidate a cue.
- DualSubs controls follow the selected interface language across 10 existing locales; no translation target languages are added.
Popup and update awareness
Lexora v0.19.1 is published and publicly available on the Chrome Web Store. Public availability was confirmed on October 10, 2026.
- Improved the browser toolbar popup UI with clear feature status, settings access, and compact secondary links.
- The popup dynamically displays the installed extension version from the manifest.
- Genuine extension upgrades show an update announcement and a NEW toolbar badge until acknowledged. First installation, startup, popup reopening, and same-version reload do not create a new announcement.
- Bundled What’s New release notes work offline. Opening the notice’s What’s New link or dismissing the notice acknowledges the installed version.
- Improved YouTube DualSubs popup controls and contextual player-control guidance, with keyboard navigation, focus indicators, and accessible switches.
Browser-native Translation
Lexora v0.19.0 is published and publicly available on the Chrome Web Store. Public availability was confirmed on October 9, 2026.
- Added On-device Translation using Chrome’s built-in Translator API, with in-panel language-pack preparation, progress, cancellation, and retry guidance.
- Choose On-device Translation, online Google Translate, or Cloud AI with user-supplied Gemini, OpenAI, or Anthropic keys. Supported prepared pairs can translate offline on-device; failures never silently select a remote provider.
- Improved Cloud AI connection handling and translation-mode persistence. Removed Ollama and custom endpoint support; legacy endpoint selections migrate to On-device Translation.
- Reading Panel, Japanese reading and pronunciation, Wikipedia/Wikidata, Notebook, and YouTube DualSubs remain available with their own settings and network behavior.
More reliable reading and translation
Lexora v0.18.4 improves reading-panel reliability and translation timeout handling. It is available publicly on the Chrome Web Store.
- Dismissed selections stay closed instead of unexpectedly reopening.
- Keep the active reading session consistent while the panel opens, and prevent outdated results from returning after it is cleared.
- Apply Google translation timeouts while the response is being read and processed.
Submitted to Chrome Web Store for public listing review
Lexora v0.18.3 has been submitted to the Chrome Web Store review queue for a public listing. The extension will be available for public install after review approval.
- Submitted for Chrome Web Store public listing review.
- Public listing will update after review approval.
- The existing unlisted listing remains accessible at the current Chrome Web Store URL.
Approved and published on Chrome Web Store (unlisted)
Lexora v0.18.0 has been approved and published on the Chrome Web Store as an unlisted item. Install directly from the Chrome Web Store. No Developer Mode required.
- Approved and published on the Chrome Web Store (unlisted).
- Install directly from the Chrome Web Store. No Developer Mode required.
- Provider routing and reading surface refinements included in this release.
M17.6 frozen handoff
Reading surface clarity pass. Module framing, header-band clarity, and cross-surface visual cohesion stabilized for the extension baseline.
- M17.6 archived as completed handoff.
- M18 marked active in roadmap.
- Visual identity system carried forward into the next feature phase.
Post-M15 frozen handoff
UI system convergence baseline established before M16 and M17 refinement work.
- Shared UI token foundation consolidated.
- Popup and options shell convergence completed.
- Interaction semantics corrected for refined-state handling.
